West Hants Historical Society

West Hants Historical Society The WHHS is a top-notch genealogical research room and museum. April - July & Sept to Dec opened Wednesdays only 10:00 - 3:00. July to Sept 9:30 - 4:30 Wed - Sun

The West Hants Historical Society runs a seasonal Museum as well as a genealogy department that is open year-round. In addition, the society provides summer guide service at the Fort Edward Blockhouse. The WHHS is run almost entirely by volunteers. Although the WHHS receives a large portion of its funding through grants, it also supports itself through publishing, its research library and fundrais

ing. The first meeting of the West Hants Historical Society was held on April 13th, 1973 in the Windsor Court House. Twenty five people attended and Roland E. Meuse was made the president. The Society became official on September 25th, 1973 when it was incorporated under the Societies Act of Nova Scotia. Its first accomplishment was a successful campaign to open the blockhouse at Fort Edward to the public. With the help of the Fort Edward Restoration Committee (an offshoot of the Historical Society) and Parks Canada, the blockhouse was opened officially on June 1, 1978. The oldest surviving structure of its kind in Canada, Fort Edward is a must-see in the Avon Valley.

Welcome to Part 4 of “Get to know our Summer Staff!”Joseph plays an important role in bringing West Hants and Nova Scoti...
08/13/2026

Welcome to Part 4 of “Get to know our Summer Staff!”
Joseph plays an important role in bringing West Hants and Nova Scotia's history to life for visitors. Through guided interpretation, Joseph has been able to connect visitors to the people, events, and communities that shaped the site, including Mi'kmaw and Acadian history, British military history, the deportation of Acadians, and Fort Edward's later military significance
Joseph serves as a bridge between the historic site and the public, helping visitors understand not only what happened at Fort Edward, but why its history continues to matter today

This week on the KHHC summer social media project, we will be talking about Seashore and Water! Today I would like to br...
08/13/2026

This week on the KHHC summer social media project, we will be talking about Seashore and Water!
Today I would like to bring your attention to the Avon Falls, a 125 foot high waterfall that spilled over a solid rock face. The water originated from Falls Lake, one of a chain of lakes between the towns of Windsor and Chester, and ran into the Avon River. Roy Jodrey and Charles Wright created the first hydro-electric plant in Nova Scotia, located at Stivers Falls on the Gaspereau River. They successfully managed to dam the falls and created a power plant for Wolfville in 1919. After that they decided they could do the same at the Avon Falls in order to create a power plant for Windsor, and in the winter of 1922, construction began. Because of this, the Avon River Light and Power Company was established in 1924, giving enough power to the town of Windsor and surrounding areas. The company then purchased the old Windsor Electric Light Company in 1927, taking over the local electric power business until 1929 when the Nova Scotia Light and Power Company bought out many small electrical companies.

Photograph 1: Avon Falls near Windsor, N.S. January 28 1912

Photograph 2: The Falls = foot of Falls Lake (west branch of the Avon River).

(writeup source: Historic Windsor by Garth Vaughan)

Only two more walking tours left for this Summer season!This tour will be our Maplewood Cemetery walking tour, going thr...
08/12/2026

Only two more walking tours left for this Summer season!
This tour will be our Maplewood Cemetery walking tour, going through the history and lifetimes of prominent figures in West Hants.

The tour will begin at 6:30 pm on August 16th meeting at 1186 King Street, Windsor and will last around an hour (give or take about 30 minutes). This Cemetery tour will cover different people than the first one, so if you came to one earlier this summer and enjoyed it, you can come again for new information!

All of our walking tours this year will be entrance by donation!

If you are interested and would like to reserve a spot, please call (902) 798 4706 or email [email protected]

Hope to see you there!

Welcome to Part 3 of “Get to know our Summer Staff!”Bailey is our Summer staff coordinator and Researcher here at the We...
08/09/2026

Welcome to Part 3 of “Get to know our Summer Staff!”
Bailey is our Summer staff coordinator and Researcher here at the West Hants Historical Society. She spends her time researching genealogy requests, creating board proposals, managing the summer staff, and working on new exhibits to add to the Museum!

She earned her degree in History from Wilfred Laurier University, her area of interests include history of the catholic church/religion, British, French and Italian history. Her final thesis was on the social and political impact on Great Britain during the War of the Spanish Succession. Bailey hopes to one day earn her Masters in Art History and go on to work at the British Museum!

Bailey has a deep respect for family history as she was able to date her family back to the time of Alfred the Great (848-899 CE), she enjoys helping people discover their past and looks forward to displaying new exhibits

Welcome to Part 2 of “Get to know our Summer Staff!”Elliot is our assistant curator here at the West Hants Historical So...
08/08/2026

Welcome to Part 2 of “Get to know our Summer Staff!”
Elliot is our assistant curator here at the West Hants Historical Society. You might see him around town as he is giving and organizing tours of Windsor, running parts of the social media and using his art skills to do graphic design work for the museum!

Elliot is going into his second year of university at The University of Kings College, where he is taking a degree on Classical History and Creative Writing! He is very excited to be spending this summer working in a museum, where he can get a feel for the jobs that might come after his degree.

Outside of work, Elliot continues his passion for the arts through theatre, creative writing, and drawing. Someday he hopes to share his love of art with the world through any form possible, but his dream is to become an author.

Welcome to our first "Get to know our summer staff!" Jana is our research assistant in the Genealogy room here at West H...
08/07/2026

Welcome to our first "Get to know our summer staff!"
Jana is our research assistant in the Genealogy room here at West Hants Historical Society. Jana spends time working on accessioning artifacts, documenting research and uploading files, she has a great understanding of tech from the Library Tech program at NSCC, she also has a degree in English with a minor in Psychology from Mount Saint Vincent University.

Jana started volunteering at the historical society during the winter before working here full time for the summer, she enjoys researching and learning new information. She often jokes about going down research rabbit holes in her free time. Jana also enjoys reading, creative writing, knitting and crocheting!

Jana strives to one day work at an academic library or University library, she loves finding new information and helping people learn as well. A true life long learner!

Welcome to week 6 of the KHHC social media project! This week is all about Industrial and Agriculture uses of the land. ...
08/06/2026

Welcome to week 6 of the KHHC social media project! This week is all about Industrial and Agriculture uses of the land. Here at the West Hants Historical Society, we hold and impressive collection of old agricultural tools. Here are some of the Agricultural tools we have here!

Photo 1 - Sickle; This tool consists of a rounded metal blade on a wooden handle. Its main use was to harvest grains such as wheat, barley or rice, as well as cut grass and weeds. The origin of the sickle has been dated back all the way to the stone age but the sickle in this picture specifically is dated anywhere between the 1930s - 1970s.

Photo 2 - Currycomb; a Currycomb is a handheld grooming comb with serrated ridges and is primarily used for horses even to this day. Its main purpose is to loosen deeply embedded dirt or mud, as well as massage the animal's skin. This Currycomb is made out of metal, with a thin toothed comb on one side and a long toothed comb on the other.

Photo 3 - Haylifting Fork; The haylifting fork was a mechanical tool used to unload or load large amounts of loose hay or stacked square bales from wagons into a barn's hayloft.

Photo 4 - Saw set; This item is used for tuning and sharpening saw blades. It operates like a set of pliers; when squeezed the tool pushes a metal rod between the teeth of the saw to align the teeth correctly.

Join Grand-Pre on August 15th for National Acadian Days! Learn about the Acadian culture with live music and a parade fr...
08/06/2026

Join Grand-Pre on August 15th for National Acadian Days! Learn about the Acadian culture with live music and a parade free for all

We had a new volunteer here at the historical society! Winnie loves welcoming people to the Genealogy room and keeping r...
08/05/2026

We had a new volunteer here at the historical society! Winnie loves welcoming people to the Genealogy room and keeping researchers company while they work

Keep up the good work Winnie

Don't forget to visit our sister museums on this lovely Sunday of the long weekend. The Avon River Heritage Centre also...
08/02/2026

Don't forget to visit our sister museums on this lovely Sunday of the long weekend. The Avon River Heritage Centre also has a great Art Show today ! Starts soon.

Address

281 King Street PO Box 2335
Windsor, NS
B0N2T0

Telephone

+19027984706

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